Nigel Farage has backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to win funding for a southern border wall to prevent the movement of people escaping poverty and oppression, and is quoted by Breitbart News as saying "I Wish Europe Had Done This Years Ago".

Given the amount of suffering and death that resulted from Europe's wall - the Berlin Wall - some might take his comment as distasteful, or possibly just opportunistic and downright stupid.

The Berlin Wall stood from 1961-1989, during which time 239 people are believed to have died whilst attempting to escape to the west, the youngest being a 15 month old year old child. Farage, of course, has spoken out in the past against EU citizens from the former Soviet republics moving west, most notably Romanians.

Breitbart has attracted much criticism for its inaccurate reporting, fake news, and seeming obsession with right-wing conspiracies. In this particular case it is the organisation's historic links with US right-wing campaigner Steve Bannon, who is increasingly involving himself in the affairs of Europe's populist far-right parties. He also seems to be bringing considerable sums of money to the table, and, whilst he has assured his colleagues that there is no Russian money involved, few appear convinced by this.

Similar questions have been asked about Farage himself: it has been noted that the former UKIP leader's 'co-habitant', Laure Ferrari, herself with a history of involvement in French populist politics, is connected with Bannon's shadowy Belgian-based organisation 'The Movement'.